Surdo

The instrument was created by Alcebíades Barcelos during the 1920s and 1930s as part of his work with the first samba school in Rio de Janeiro, Deixa Falar.

A Rio bateria will commonly use surdos that have skin heads (for rich tone) and aluminum shells (for lower weight).

Surdos are worn from a waist belt or shoulder strap, oriented with the heads roughly horizontal.

This surdo is a drum 20" or 22" in diameter, and it sounds on the first beat of the basic "one, two" rhythm of the samba.

The terceira "cuts" across the basic pulse of the other two surdo parts with a complex pattern of fills and syncopations.

Other bass drums found elsewhere in Brazil include the zabumba and alfaia of the northeast.